Archived Headcanons
by illocust
Summary: A few funny and/or angsty Sheith headcanons that I'm fond of and wanted to preserve. Hope they bring a smile to your day.


**Author Note:**

 _ **Drama in the Voltron Fandom has gotten pretty bad in some part. Lot of reports flying around. I wanted to make sure if that happened to me I wouldn't lose the headcanons I wrote.**_

-..

Sheith headcanon. So you know how if you think of something but don't say it, the words will just bounce around your head for freaking ever. Shiro and Keith are like that about things they think about each other but don't feel completely comfortable saying, so their thoughts end up being dominated by things you wouldn't normally expect of them.

Keith ends up with these ridiculously poetic purple prose monstrosities dedicated to his boyfriend floating around his head, that he'd rather fight Zarkon with a toothpick than actually voice to Shiro. Shiro, on the other hand, just has these really base thoughts like "Yes, Keith's abs are perfect, but they'd look better covered in my-", that he's too busy pretending to be the mature responsible one to admit to having during meetings.

I keep imagining a scenario where a Voltron bonding session goes wrong and Pidge ends up stuck listening to Shiro or Keith's thoughts for a day.

If it was Keith, she'd just end up snapping at him, "Oh my god, Keith, Shiro's eyes do not remind you of stars. You've seen stars before. They are flaming balls of death. Do Shiro's eyes remind you of flaming balls of death? No? Then stop comparing the two!"

Which is infinitely preferable to the situation of getting stuck with Shiro, cause then it would be all, "Shiro, I now know for a fact that you get laid on a regular basis. Can you reign in your libido for two freaking seconds, and stop giving me a play by play of everything you did to Keith last night. Your boyfriend is very pretty, but what he looks like with his clothes off is not something I ever needed to know." Of course, assuming Shiro got over the 'don't think about pink elephants' problem of being asked to not picture Keith naked and the whole mind meld lasted long enough, the thoughts would probably at some point turn to the darker self-loathing and thinking about his time with the Galra variety instead. In which case, Pidge would probably say something like, "I'm sorry I got on to you earlier. Can we go back to thinking about Keith's ass. Please? We were both happier." If that happened, the Garrison trio would probably end up with a plan labeled, "Distract Shiro using Keith's body for Pidge's sanity."

-..

Sheith headcannon. Lance is the last to figure out that Keith and Shiro are dating.

Hunk was in the Garrison pre-Kerberos and heard the rumors about them. Keith dropping out after the pilot error incident just confirmed things.

Pidge figured it out when Keith took them all to his shack in the middle of the desert and magically produced perfectly fitting clothes for Shiro.

Coran has just assumed they were together from the moment he met them. He's been around a while, and he knows how to spot young love even when it's tainted by war.

Allura figured it out while she was training them, when Keith dived in front of the training bot to protect Shiro.

Lance, on the other hand, didn't figure it out until Keith and Shiro straight out kissed in front of him. He's still mad no one told him.

-..

Sheith head canon. Black is the most pleased about Shiro and Keith's relationship. She thinks they are adorable, and she loves that Keith makes her paladin happy. Plus, she thinks Shiro is a great influence on Keith (course, she thinks Shiro is a great influence on literally everybody. She chose him for a reason after all).

Red took longer to warm up to them as a thing, though. She likes Keith and she likes Keith bullheadly chasing after what he wants, but she kind of wished what he wanted hadn't involved being more attached to Black's paladin. Then after a particularly nasty fight Keith and Shiro end up having "We're both still alive!" heavy make out turned something else in her cockpit. Finally she got to see Shiro's more passionate desperately in love with her paladin side. She's agreed with Keith's choice ever since. Not that she is ever going to tell Black that.

-..

Sheith headcanon. Galra!Keith would be horrible for both Keith and Shiro.

Shiro still loves Keith. He would be explicit in telling Keith that this doesn't change anything about his feelings, but the fact is, he was put through hell for over a year by the Galra. When a nightmare wakes Shiro up in the middle of the night and he sees purple skin, his first thought isn't 'Keith' it's 'danger'. That's not to mention the panic attacks set off, when he unexpectedly sees Keith's new form in the corner of his vision. He still loves Keith with all his heart, but Keith is now his own personal walking trigger. He feels all the more broken every time he freaks out, because he finally has what he wanted but he can't enjoy it because of his PTSD.

Keith, on the other hand, is learning all new levels of self-hatred. He feels that it's his fault Shiro can't be happy. This whole incident is validating every childhood fear that there was something wrong with him and that's why no family ever wanted to keep him. There is something wrong with him. He's part Galra. He's a monster. Even Allura and Coran are giving him the side eye. They lost their entire people to the Galra, and even if they try to hide it, he can see the discomfort in their eyes. Maybe everybody would be better off if he just grabbed a shuttle and left.

Shiro does notice, even through his own problems, that Keith is thinking of leaving. He's known him for a very long time, and he knows that Keith would deal with extreme stress by taking off. Back in the Garrison days it would be sneaking out for midnight rides in the desert, but even earlier, he knows Keith ran away from a few foster homes. He sees it, and he tries to prevent it. Peppers Keith with as much love as he can. Kisses and I loves yous spread throughout out the day. Hugs as tight as he can, as if he could physically bind Keith too him if he just holds him strongly enough.

It delays things, but in the end it's not enough. One night, after Shiro has a particularly bad nightmare, Keith waits until he has gotten Shiro back to sleep, then he sneaks out of their shared bedroom and steals a shuttle. He already had a go bag and a planned route to a semi-safe planet. He'd been making preparations every time they entered a new solar system, but kept putting off fleeing because he couldn't stand to leave Shiro no matter how much he hurt him by his presence. That nightmare had just finally given him the kick in the pants he felt he needed to do what he thought was right.

Shiro wakes up in a mild panic in the morning. Keith does get up earlier than him sometimes, but he's been scared that Keith is going to leave him for a while. His mind jumps to the worst case scenario, and he quickly confirms that Keith is actually gone from the Castle of the Lions.

Luckily for Shiro, after Pidge nearly took off in one of the shuttles, Coran installed a tracking beacon on all the shuttles that can be activated by a signal from the Castle. Keith may have had half a nights head start, but the Castle is a much faster ship. They manage to intercept Keith's shuttle before he can reach his destination and disappear into the populace of the planet.

When his shuttle is dragged back into the docking bay, Shiro goes to meet him alone. Keith tries to argue with him. Explain that they would all be better off if Keith was gone and they found someone else to pilot the red lion. Shiro just grabs him, holds him tight, and breaks down. It's not the first time Keith has seen Shiro cry since he became the Black Paladin. He's held him on plenty of bad nights, but it is the first time since he's been back that Keith has seen Shiro cry over something that isn't a half remembered memory of his time in captivity.

" _Keith, god, don't leave me" "I love you" "I thought I'd never see you again" "I can't do this without you"_

Keith agrees to come back. Things are still far away from okay, but he does promise that if he ever goes again it won't be in the dead of night. He'll tell Shiro to his face, and will go openly.

-..

Sheith headcanon. Shiro showered Keith with small free or cheap gifts, when they dated in the Garrison. Before they started dating, back when they were just friends. They'd seen some fellow cadets come back from a really over the top expensive Valentines' day date. Keith had mentioned how uncomfortable the idea of someone spending so much on him, when he couldn't reciprocate, made him.

Shiro remembered, and when they became an item, he always made sure to keep his gifts and dates in a price range Keith was comfortable with. Which is why Keith ended up with wild flowers Shiro would see on the way to meet him and candy bars every time they studied together. Also once, he got the full suite of tiny astronaut figures from one of those 25 cent toy capsules vending machines.

Their dates also tended to end up being the dorkiest 50′s things ever, when Shiro planned them. Like stopping by the Diner in town for milkshakes, Shiro's treat, or going to the drive in movie theater on Shiro's hoverbike. Keith may have made comments once about needing to buy himself a poodle skirt if Shiro kept it up. That got him a date to the local theater group's rendition of Grease.

Sheith headcanon. Shiro and Keith are both really touch starved, when they became paladins of Voltron.

Shiro's had spent a year in the Galra arena, where being touched meant pain. Even when being healed the most he could hope for was professionalism. The druids tended towards sadistic or just straight up not caring as long as he was good to go back and fight.

Keith's time wasn't physically painful like Shiro's, but he's spent months on end alone in a shack in the middle of the desert. The only time he's saw people after being kicked out of the Garrison was on supply runs, and exchanging money with a store clerk doesn't involve actually touching them. Even introverts have their limits for comfortable lack of contact with other humans. Keith reached his long before Shiro came crashing back to Earth.

Despite this they had a rough time, when they were reunited. Both wanted to go back to where they used to be, with simple casual contact being the norm, but Shiro doesn't do well with unexpected touches anymore. Especially if he didn't realize the other person was there.

His flinching initially put a lot of strain on their relationship. Shiro feeling too broken for a relationship every time he does it, and Keith having the nagging voice in the back of his head saying he's being rejected (he know's its not true, but he's got issues about being left).

Pidge eventually comes up with, well not a solution, but something to help them remember they both like being together. Basically Shiro and Keith have thirty minutes of scheduled couple cuddle time a day, administrated/enforced by Pidge. The structure has helped them both. Knowing it's coming helps Shiro relax, and knowing it's always there reassures Keith.

-..

Sheith headcanon. The Garrison tries to send two people with a steady relationship on missions that require the crew to stay in space for long periods of time, for the emotional health of the crew. This is why both of the Holts were on the Kerberos mission with Shiro. Their Father/Son relationship was considered a stabilizing element for the mission.

Keith and Shiro's long term plan was to become such a duo, as a couple, for future missions. The Garrison knew about their relationship and approved of it for this reason.

Sheith headcanon. Keith doesn't do PDA or talk to others about his relationship with Shiro. It's not that he minds anyone knowing about them. He just feels extremely awkward, when he discusses the subject. He's certain no one else is interested, and he doesn't want to be a member of one of 'those couples'.

At least until the Castle of Lions found some alcohol that was compatible with human biology, then the flood gates opened. Allura now has had every single one of her questions on human mating rituals answered with anecdotes, and a comprehensive list on the best things about Shiro, author Keith Kogane (how he blushes when Keith calls him gorgeous is tied with Shiro's abs for fifth place).

Pidge thought the whole thing was hilarious. She got dozens of picture of Keith and Shiro acting schmoopy together before the night was over, also confirmation of fifth place on Keith's list. She'd have more, but Hunk decided it was time to protect young eyes and helped both halves of the happy couple back to their room.

Upon request, Coran came up with something a little less strong for future events.

-..

Sheith headcanon. If Haggar was ever able to brainwash Shiro into being Dark!Shiro, she wouldn't be able to convince him to kill Keith. Trying to get Shiro to directly do something so against what he desires would invariably lead to the spell being broken.

Instead, what she does is twist Shiro's feelings towards Keith. Less love, more obsession. Less desire for a partner, more desire to own. She wished she could get him to just completely turn on everyone he ever knew, but she'll happily settle for Dark!Shiro wanting to keep Keith as a pretty slave for the rest of his life.

You can imagine that Keith takes this idea pretty poorly. Lots of pain if Dark!Shiro was ever successful.

-..

 **End Note:**

 _ **You have permission to write a story or drabble based upon any of these if they inspire you. Drop me a line afterwards, though. I'd love to see what you wrote.**_


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